SNP to bring in free personal care for disabled under-65s by April 2019

September 10, 2017

By Professor John Robertson

There’s only one problem and that’s the possibility that the nasty Tories will cut disability benefits before they are transferred to the Scottish government and thus limit what they can do. So, according to the news.gov.scot site today:

‘Health Secretary Shona Robison is seeking urgent assurances there will be no cuts to disability benefits for people set to benefit from ‘Frank’s Law’ before these are transferred to the Scottish Government. The Health Secretary has written to David Gauke, the Secretary for State for Work and Pensions, to ensure there is no repeat of the welfare cuts imposed when Free Personal Care was introduced in 2002, which has resulted in the Scottish Government spending an additional £600m to mitigate against those benefits being withdrawn.’

For your information, here are the benefits the Scottish Government will get control over:

Attendance Allowance;

Carer’s Allowance;

Disability Living Allowance;

Personal Independence Payment;

Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit;

Severe Disablement Allowance;

Funeral Payment;

Sure-Start Maternity Grant;

Cold Weather Payment;

Winter Fuel Payment.

It looks quite a list but it only accounts for just over 15% (£2.9billion) of social security spending. 85% will remain in in the not-so-caring hands of the UK Government.